Cavalcade of America Season 4, Episode 10: Barbed Wire Christmas

1

A Time for Courage

The story of ""Nancy Merki and the swimming coach who led her to victory over polio and to Olympic stardom.

60 min

2

The Texas Rangers

A phase of the work of the Texas Rangers in the late nineteenth century is described in a dramatization about J. L. Armstrong, the ranger who captured John Wesley Hardin on a train in Florida and thwarted the prisoner's efforts to escape during the long train journey from Florida to Texas.

60 min

3

Toward Tomorrow

A tribute to Dr. Ralph Bunche, undersecretary of the United Nations. The drama is based on the early life of the statesman, who was orphaned at the age of 8 and was guided from then on by his aged grandmother.

60 min

4

Disaster Patrol

The work, organization, and purpose of the Civil Air Patrol is described in a dramatization about a CAP pilot in California who risks his life to fly doctors and emergency supplies into a canyon community seriously damaged by an earthquake.

60 min

5

The Swamp Mutiny

A historical drama showing how General Francis Marion, a colonial officer during the American Revolution, won the admiration and eventually the support of a young British officer who witnessed the general's tactical suppression of a mutiny among colonial volunteer soldiers. Setting: Georgetown South Carolina, in 1780.

60 min

6

Chain of Hearts

The story of John Staniszewski, a Polish seaman who tried to gain American citizenship after World War 2.

60 min

7

One Day at a Time

This is the true story of the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous. The principals in the organization were two alcoholics, one a financial genius, the other a doctor. Both men's lives and careers were threatened by their drinking problem, until they found that by working together they could cure each other and other victims.

60 min

8

Crisis in Paris

A drama showing how Benjamin Franklin, an inexperienced diplomat and member of the American Commission to France, negotiated a treaty providing for French aid to the Colonies in their war with England. Setting: Paris, during the American Revolution.

60 min

9

Doctor on Wheels

A true story of a Saskatchewan farm boy who finished medical school in a wheel chair after he became paralyzed by polio.

60 min

10

Barbed Wire Christmas

A documentary drama about life in a German prison camp. When a group of GIs in a German prison camp in 1944 pool their resources in order to hold a Christmas Mass, the prison commandant not only permits the service to continue but, with the guards, joins the prisoners in their worship.

60 min

11

Postmark: Danger

The work of a postal inspector is described in a dramatization about two postal inspectors who expose the civilian supervisor of a prison mail room as an extortioner who has been using the mails to defraud the parents of servicemen reported missing during the Korean War.

60 min

12

The Boy Who Walked to America

Based on a true story of a Korean youngster who to give up his dream. With the assistance of sympathetic soldiers and a Catholic priest, the boy managed to achieve his dream of going to America.

60 min

13

The Prison Within

A girl is overcome with remorse when the soldier she refused to marry is killed in Korea. Her unusual guilt complex leads her to commit a series of crimes, for which she is imprisoned. Convicted forgery when she is paroled, her parole officer is troubled by her inexplicable behavior.

60 min

14

Star and Shield

The true story about a warmhearted police officer in Union City, N. J., who attempts to secure an apartment in a low-cost housing project for an embittered old woman and her five-year-old grand-daughter.

60 min

15

The Secret Life of Joe Swedie

The story about a child-therapist who helps bedridden children in hospitals to retain an interest in life.

60 min

16

Call Home the Heart

The true story of the Japanese gardener who, under the sponsorship of a pioneer civic leader, beautified Miami Beach area with his imaginative planting of lush greenery. He eventually became one of the city?s honored citizens.

60 min

17

The Listening Hand

The Hathaways are a deaf and blind couple who fight for their right to keep and care for their newborn baby.

60 min

18

A Life to Live By

The story of a California schoolboy who, in spite of the knowledge that he has an inaccurate disease, sets the world?s record for the high school shot-put and leads a full life before death overtakes him.

60 min

19

The Doll Who Found a Mother

A judge introduces the parents of an unhappy child to a toy loan library.

60 min

20

The Jackie Jensen Story

True story of Red Sox star outfielder Jackie Jensen and Ralph Kerchum, the high school teacher whose guidance and friendship made the difference between greatness or oblivion.

60 min

21

Diplomatic Outpost

In the Far East, a young American diplomat and his wife cope with a polio epidemic and the threat of civil war.

60 min

22

Danger on Clover Ridge

Drifter winds up on the plains of the West.

60 min

23

Who is Byington?

Dramatized incidents portray the activities of newspaper correspondents in covering the battles of the Civil War, the rivalry which spurred them on, and the efforts of Homer Byington of the New York Tribune to follow the Battle of Gettysburg and telegraph the news to his paper.

60 min

24

The Boy Nobody Wanted

Billy Brandon's father is a good man, but also a professional gambler who doesn't have much time for his son. Left alone one day, he gets into a fight with a neighbor's boy who taunts him about his father being a gambler. The boy is accidently killed when he falls and hits his head. The boy's father, editor of the local newspaper, takes revenge by smearing Billy's dad in his paper. As a result, Nick Brandon is soon imprisoned and Billy is sent to an adoption agency. Luckily, he is adopted by an older couple and his life becomes filled with love. He grows to be an A student and a war hero. When his father is finally released from prison, Billy must make a hard decision.

60 min

25

The Major of St. Louis

Major Thomas D. Howie of the 3rd Battallion, 116th Infantry, 29th Division. He lies at rest between a Private and a General in the American Cemetery in Normandy, overlooking Omaha Beach. He was loved by his men, though an enigma to some, and loved reading verses from Edgar Lee Masters ""Spoon River Anthology"", ""These are the ghosts from the desolate coasts...would you go to them...only pursue them...whatever enshrined is within you ..is you.""

60 min